Why I Care

I’m a Gen Xer. I grew up at a time when the path in front of me was clear and, in hindsight, that clarity was a gift. When I graduated from high school, there was never a question about whether I was going to college. That wasn’t a debate or a risk calculation; it was simply the next step. College wasn’t framed as a bet. It was an assumption, and a safe one at the time. After college, there was no real uncertainty about what came next either. I joined the military and earned a commission in the Air Force. That decision gave me something that is harder to come by today: real responsibility early. By my mid-20s, I wasn’t just learning in theory. I was accountable for outcomes, managing complexity, and gaining experience that actually mattered. When I left the Air Force at 27, I didn’t just have a resume. I had momentum.

Photo by Daniel Thürler on Unsplash

I also grew up in a culture that emphasized resilience and self-reliance. We were expected to adapt, to figure things out, to take responsibility for ourselves. We were taught to be flexible, skeptical, and to seek the truth even when it wasn’t comfortable. That mindset served me well, especially as work and technology changed. When I look at younger generations today, what I feel most is concern. They don’t have the clarity I had, and it’s not their fault. The economy has changed. Work has changed. The signals we use to guide people into careers are noisier, riskier, and often misleading. Young people are being asked to make life-shaping decisions earlier, with higher stakes, less margin for error, and fewer guarantees that the paths in front of them will still make sense five or ten years down the road. That’s what draws me into this conversation.

I’m not trying to recreate the world I grew up in. It’s gone, and it isn’t coming back.

But I do believe we owe people something closer to what I had: clearer choices, more honest guidance, and real pathways to responsibility and dignity in work. A lot of people today are vulnerable not because they lack ability or ambition, but because the system around them no longer offers clear footing. Helping bring clarity where there is confusion, and support where there is risk, feels less like a project and more like an obligation. That’s why I care about the future of work. And that’s why I’m invested in helping others find the kind of momentum that once made all the difference for me.